Little Moments
by AndSoForeverAfter
Summary: A series of short one shots revolving around life, love, and adventures.
1. Where She'd Want To Be

**Hello everyone! Thanks for clicking the first in many one-shots I'm planning to write! I really hope you enjoy this, and please if you have a spare moment, please leave a review, I'd really, really appreciate it! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything about them. **

Home...

Home was where the warm fire was, burning proudly in the grand fireplace of her castle. It filled the cold stone walls with a gentle heat that made even the most frozen of people become warm, comfortable, and tender within a moment, both physically and emotionally.

Home was where her friends were. They were no doubt gossiping amongst themselves, spending a million rupees in the Castletown shops, and doing other things that teenaged girls enjoyed doing.

Home was where her father was, spreading his wisdom and selfless deeds to those whom he'd never met, yet who had worshiped him all his life. Had his only daughter been with him at that moment, the two would be sitting in his library, sipping warm cocoa, discussing the day, and watching the rain fall in beautiful, sparkling streaks down the glass windows.

Home was where everything that was comfortable, usual, normal was. Home was where everything she would normally want was. Yet, despite all that, she had no desire to be there in the very least, because home was not where he was, for he was with her.

Not only was he with her, but he was with her in the pouring rain. Together they'd roughly constructed a tent made of the strangest material she'd ever seen, and a series of short metal bars they'd found jest left beside a nearby river.

"I'm not sure what would be better, he mumbled to himself as he leaned forward to poke the fire, "To have a warm fire, and be soaking wet, or to be bone dry and not have so much as a match."

She shrugged and pulled her shawl around her arms. "At this point, either would be lovely, seeing as we're both wet and cold. Will the rain ever let up?"

He shook his head. "It doesn't look like it at this point, does it? I can't even see where the clouds end, it's far past death mountain. We might be stuck here all night."

Hidden inside the other, much larger tent, was his loyal horse. She did not dare leave the small shelter the two had built for her, yet at the same time, she seemed restless. Then again, weren't they all? It had to have been a good two, three, maybe even four hours since they'd made the shelters, and it could be even longer before they ever got to leave.

"Epona just might go mad trapped in there for so long." he said with a smile. As if she understood, the horse turned in her master's direction and peered down at him with sad dark eyes.

"As might we. Link, how long had it been?" she asked, "my legs are starting to become numb from sitting so long."

Link shrugged, and as he began to dig through the rucksack behind him, he said, "At least a few hours at the very least."

From the bag, he pulled a thick wool blanket and reached around her to wrap it over her bare arms and shoulders, leaving none left for herself.

"You'll catch your death if you don't wrap up yourself." she said as she nudged her body closer to his. A part of her wanted him to be warm as well, and yet, another part of her wanted him to be warm, for his sake. Another part though, wanted to be closer to him, to be able to rest her head on his broad shoulders like a pillow, and feel the warm that constantly radiated from his body, and, well, she had her other reasons. He was, after all, possibly the only boy to spark her interest in years. He was sweet and kind, loyal to her, loyal to those who needed him for protection, and just good. Yes, that was it good, the only word to describe him simply.

He pushed away again. "Princess, I swear, I will be fine. I insist you keep it to yourself, you'll stay much warmer."

"And I insist that you take some, by royal decree." the princess said sternly as she forced the heavy wool around him.

"Royal decree? Isn't that only something your father can do?" Link asked with a laugh. He playfully gave her a light shove. A normal person would never, ever, do such a thing to the princess of Hyrule, but after knowing her for eight years, he'd eventually grown comfortable enough to even toy and joke with her like he would with a regular teenage girl.

"Well, _Hero_," she jokingly spat his title, "since you are _my _escort, I don't see why I can't give you orders."

A smiled formed on his lips. "Well, _Princess_, that doesn't mean I have to accept your orders."

"No, no you don't, but I would hope you would. After all, one day I'll be your queen."

As her head hit his shoulder, she whispered, "any maybe, one day, you'll... Never mind."

"Never mind what?" he asked, as he pulled his hat over the tips of his ears and shivered in the cold.

"Nothing, nothing at all." she said, a bright smile on her face.

The empty woods where they sat were cold, wet, and far from being an ideal place to spent the night, and yet because he was right there, the young princess found herself not wanting to be anywhere else in the world.

**Thanks for reading, I really hoped you enjoyed this story, and I'll be writing more, so please let me know what you thought!**


	2. A Princess Should Never

**So, I'm going to try to write one of these a day, let's see how long I can hold on to that. If I make it until Christmas, which would be exactly a month after I started, then we throw a party, okay?**

**Disclaimer: you know the drill, if it's not from the actual series, than I might own it, if it's from the series, I don't. Enjoy!**

Seventeen suitors. In the last three days, the young princess of Hyrule had met with seventeen suitors. That must be a national record, if not only in Hyrule, but perhaps, a new record for the entire world. No other princess that Zelda knew had ever been forced to meet more than one suitor a week, much less seventeen. Then again, no other princess that Zelda knew was approaching her seventh birthday. It was only a few weeks away, and the courtiers and the nobles had put much pressure on the king to find a suitable groom for his only daughter by that time. To the princess, it was obvious that courtiers and nobles wanted to eliminate any possibility of having a queen reining on her own, it would go against what they believed, that women should be seen and not heard, like children. She wasn't so sure her father quite caught on to this.

After a while, all the suitors seem to be the same. Two of the suitors came in with knights on horseback, and another came with a large band of minstrels which played a song so badly out of tune it made her ears bleed. Over the racket, she could barely hear his badly written poetry on how beautiful he thought she was, and how beautiful their children would be.

"If I were ever to write a book on how to create the loveliest of first impressions for a princess, I would not include any of the things I've seen over these days passed, m'lady." the princess's first lady in waiting, Ayren, said with a laugh. She locked the princess's chamber door and giggled slighty.

"My word," Zelda sighed as she fell back on her bed, "some of these men were just plain foolish."

Ayren nodded. "Oh, but did you not just adore the beautiful voice of Lord Dalon of Sera?" she asked sarcastically.

"Dear Goddesses, who ever told that poor man that he had the voice of an angel? I've heard wild animals with battle cries that have sweeter sounds." the princess laughed.

Hours passed and the two young women talked and laughed until salty tears began to fill their eyes, and each laugh became a pleasant poke to the side.

Of course their joy and laughter came at the expense of the two week widower, Lord Barace of Chipma, and his fourteen year old son Demetrius, both of whom had come as suitors, as well as pompous Baron Manuel, and snooty Prince Jonathan, and all the others.

"You know," Ayren said seriously, "Be it soon or a later time, you still must choose a suitor before being crowned."

Zelda sighed and toyed with her golden braid. "There isn't in all of Hyrule's history a rule that has ever stated a princess had to be married."

"But it's highly encouraged," Ayren remind. She reclined back on the princess's bed as if it where her own and smiled, "I'm sure there's someone out there, waiting for each of us, and hopefully for you, he's a noble, has public favor, and if all else fails, is handsome beyond belief!"

"Would those things not be perfect?" Zelda sighed, her mind beginning to wonder to the stories of handsome knights and the days of heroism that her mother had told her about as a child. Oh, what she'd give to have such an easy choice, to fall in love with the dashing hero, for the kingdom to worship him, and for her to have no trouble saying the two most important words of her life.

"Well, there is always you-know-who." Ayren suggested as she raised her eye brows suspiciously.

This only confused the princess, who asked, "And who is this person you speak of?"

"That boy of yours. That hero, he's handsome, beyond so even. He has more than gained public favour by this point, especially with the young women of the kingdom, who are all as smitten as you are-"

"I am not smitten!" Zelda snapped, her entire body shooting up at the sound of the accusation.

"You're cheeks are as red as the roses outside your balcony window! Princess, I was merely joking, but quite clearly you've considered this seriously." Ayren was hysterical at this point. Her friend never over reacted, never shouted, never took things out of a mild, calm tone, and this was just too much to handle.

The princess covered her cheeks and curled into the corner of the bed, her back pressed against the cold wall. "Oh you shut it Ayren!"

Though she was laughing herself, Zelda was rather frustrated with herself. A princess shouldn't lose control of her emotions, a princess shouldn't think about anything other than her kingdom and it's future, but most importantly, a princess shouldn't fall in love. A princess should **never** fall in love.


	3. The Castle in the Distance

One could run for years and never reach the end of the surface. Each step closer to exploring the entire world lead not to it's end, but to a new beginning. A huge lake past the edge of the forest, a bitter, angry desert even more treacherous than that surrounding the mines, and set dead center of the three familiar lands, the most gorgeous, and perhaps only, field most of the young explorers had even seen.

Strange, four legged animals, horse, Professor Owlan called them, ran free across the emerald plains, some in herds, in pairs, others racing themselves to their own freedom.

One horse in particular, could not leave the group's hero alone.

"I think she's rahter fond of you Link," Zelda giggled as the horse attempted to take away Link's hat.

"Maybe too fond," he mumbled in reply. Annoying as it was, he couldn't help reaching into his pack and pulling out a carrot for the playful horse to munch on. Better it than his hat, he thought.

A couple of the other explorers, Groose and a few fifth year students from the academy came running over the rolling hills, shouting with joy over something, though their words were lost between other shouts and bird cries.

"There's a huge temple up ahead!" one of the youngest students, a small redhead named Cylie came leading the pack, pointing eastwards, "we saw it from that hill over there! It's massive, i haven't seen anything that big since, well, ever!"

Grabbing both Link and Zelda's wrist, she continued to run, the two upperclassmen stumbling along behind her.

For once, the kids were right. There it was, standing at the foot of the huge rocky wall that surrounding the fields, was a large, stone building, crumbling with age, misuse, and damage from war.

"Cyl, that's not a temp-"

"It's a castle." Professor Owlan announced. He began to inspect the castle for any text or clues of it's origin. "The leaders of the surface would have resided here," his eyes went to Zelda, "it's likely even Hylia spent many of her days here before sending us all to the skies."

A blush covered Zelda's cheeks. "I could never imagine living in this, you'd need a compass and a map just to navigate your own home."

"Well," an all too familiar voice spoke, "I could certainly get used to living life here in Grooseland Castle, maybe make a few adjustments, perhaps a Groosenator on top, that'd strike fear into-"

"We're not calling this Grooseland!" multiple voices shouted out at once.

Groose, who had made himself quite comfortable in a pile of stone bricks resembling a throne, seemed to deflate for the slighest second before his ego poofed up like his pompadour once again.

Link nodded. "It probably already has a name, right?" he turned to Zelda.

She sighed, the smile fading slightly from her typically cheerful face. "If I'd ever known what it's called, I've forgotten. Hylia's memories fade everyday, this castle doesn't even look familiar."

"Well, we'll figure it out." Link said encouragingly.

"And if not-"

"We're still not calling it Grooseland."

Zelda giggled, and together, she and Link joined the search for any form of writing or engraving.

"Over here!" Harper, another fifth year boy, shouted out. He pointed to a tablet, just above seven feet off the ground, tucked in between other bricks.

At her suggestion, Link wrapped his arms around Zelda's knees and lifted her up onto his shoulder. "Can you read it?"

She mumbled to herself as she read. It was written in an old language, so a large majority of the words were unfamiliar, and many of thse Ashe could read were scuffed and faded so much she began to second guess what she was reading.

"Hyrule." she said clearly, "that's all I can make out sure."

"The kingdom of Hyrule." Link said, the words slipping so easy of his tongue

"Has a nice ring to it."

"So it's settled," Owlan said confidently, "this is Hyrule castle."

Cheers echoed through the hallowed halls as the explorers began to hunt through the ruins, perhaps looking for a spot to begin rebuilding.

In the distance, the soft melody known only as the Grooseland anthem was hummed, it's sound fading as quickly as the countries name.

I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update, school, dance and yearbook ate all my time! I've got three updates almost ready, hopefully they'll be up within the next few days:)

Of you have any prompts or ideas you'd like to share, please let me know:)


	4. Locks and Keys

**Hey guys, I'm sorry it's been so long between updates, I've been away for either dance(I went to Ireland, soooo beautiful there) and I recently started university and I haven't had much I've to write. I don't have school On Thursdays or Fridays, so I've decided I'm going to try to update once a day until Monday. Make sure you hold me to it3**

**Okay, so the prompt for this was keys. It's not my all timefavourite, but whatevergets me back into writing is a great help. Let me know what you think, and what you'd like to see fortomorrows prompt!**

Whoever built the temple clearly wanted those to enter it suffer. Winding corridors were filled with skulltula, the grand halls hosted ball for the least than lively redeads, and worst of all...

The doors needed keys.

Not just a single key either, each heavy slab of wood was held firmly in place by at least three padlocks for the most peculiar looking keys he'd ever laid his eyes on. Small, slender, and a gleaming shade of white, almost as if it were...

Bone.

He shivered at the thought as he fumbled to open the last of the locks. Across the room stood the biggest door yet to be seen. It reached heights that even rivaled Hyrule Castle, and yet only one lock, large and on the ground, held it closed.

The room was round, filled only with the Hylian boy, the little fairy tucked up under his hat, and a few pots scattered throughout. It was a dead end, there was nowhere a key of that size could hide.

"Link? Link, maybe we should head back?" the fairy squeaked, her voice was shrill and you could hear the fear in each word.

"But-" before he could finish, the walls began to wobble, the floor began to shake, and worst of all, a huge figure dropping from the ceiling. It landed with a thud that sent Link flying across the room into a pile of pots.

"We need to get out!"

The creature spat at him and drew a sword from his rotting sheath. He swung the white blade around above his head, and slammed it to the ground. On closer observation he realized-

"Link that's the key!"

And suddenly, there was no turning back. Defeating the creature meant getting the key, and getting the key meant getting out of there.

Now it was personal.


End file.
